1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a public policy auction system designed to provide a monetary incentive for the adoption of efficient public and other policies. More particularly, an online auction or an interrelated, communicating system of online auctions is implemented that valuates the benefit of public policy innovations and assigns rights in those innovations among innovators of the public policy as well as constituents who support the policy.
2. Description of the Background
Wars, alcoholism, drug addiction, corruption, unemployment, etc. are all inefficient conditions that waste resources. The inefficient use of resources causes numerous ills not the least of which is global warming. There has long been a great need to solve any of these enormous problems. A solution could save millions of lives, make the world a safer place, and possibly change the course of history. The advent of the Internet provides a platform and the present invention provides an auction exchange system of incentives to help solve these problems.
In addition, associations, corporations, lobbyists, individuals, etc., who might want to have constituents act as lobbyists to their legislators for a fee, as any other professional lobbyist may do, would not know who to pay or how much to pay to provide grassroots support for their agenda. The advent of the Internet provides a platform and the present invention provides an auction exchange system of incentives to help solve these problems.
The prior art reflects a number of electronic commerce systems (below) inclusive of auctions, but none so ambitious as to promote efficient public policy and the world's social welfare.
1. Systems and Methods for Electronic Commerce
The prior art is replete with descriptions of electronic systems and methods that facilitate the transfer of traditional goods and services.
In an online context, U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,383 entitled Method for Carrying Out Transactions Using Electronic Title, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,031 entitled Method and Apparatus for Order Management By Market Brokers, describe means of displaying merchandise for sale to a plurality of customers connected to a server computer and means of conducting sales and order transactions. These references are directed to goods and services that presently have an analogue outside of the online context, such as the sale of cars, of clothing, of memorabilia, or of financial products.
2. Systems and Methods for Electronic Auctions
A comprehensive description of the advantages of electronic auction systems and methods over traditional live auctions is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,896 to Fisher et al., and will only be summarized here. Electronic auctions facilitate remote participation whereby the bidders, the auctioneer, the seller, or the merchandise need not travel to the same location. The auctioneer is essentially a computer system instead of a person. Any number of auctions can occur simultaneously, limited only by computing power and communications bandwidth. Merchandise becomes available to a greater number of buyers, increasing their collective influence on price while decreasing transaction costs for the seller. Again, the '896 patent and like references only disclose the electronic auction sales of conventional goods and services.
3. Systems and Methods for Electronic Collaboration
There are references that expand upon prior art electronic commerce and electronic auction systems and methods. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,219 to Brown describes an online auction that permits individual bidders to pool bids during a bidding session. Bidding groups and their individual members are registered in the server computer. Total bids for all members of the bidding group are compared to find the winning bidder. However, with all of these prior art references and in the current state of the art in general, such systems and methods are specific to the sale of concrete goods and services. There are no known systems or methods capable of evaluating and capturing the economic benefit of innovative new policies, as conceived and expressed by innovators. Despite the intangible nature of such an enterprise, there is nothing to prevent the use of electronic systems and methods to do so.
By way of example in the greater portion of the economy, the relative uniqueness of an individual's contribution and the contribution of an individual's resources are the standard of fairness in market economies. The uniqueness of an individual's contribution and the contribution of an individual's resources is herein defined as the “unique marginal revenue product of the last unit.” In the context of a traditional patent system the unique marginal revenue product of the last unit is not the standard of fairness. Instead, an exclusive patent grant for a set period of time presently is the fixed standard of fairness, and inefficiencies result. One reason for inefficiencies is that a competing innovator may only be minutes ahead of the competition, but he nevertheless receives the entirety of patent protection. In contrast, an individual whose contribution is a quantum step forward may be 30 or 50 years ahead of their competition, and yet they receive the same measure of patent protection. The latter case is not adequate reimbursement. Inadequate reimbursement is inefficient because it fails to provide the profit signals defining the importance of unique and valuable contributions. In the more abstract realm of public policy innovation, there currently are no proprietary rights for those who develop better policies.
It would be greatly advantageous to combine the advantageous aspects of electronic auction systems and methods, and collaborative electronic systems and methods, in a novel way to create a free market for public policies through valuation, establishment of proprietary rights, and assignment of such rights by auction. This will promote legislative adoption of more efficient public policies by creating a free market for the savings gained by such policies, thereby giving a monetary incentive for the research and development of more efficient public policies by allowing the public and the innovators of such policies to share in the resulting economic benefit.